Part receptionist, part secretary, part chaperone, part information specialist, part mentor, part troubleshooter and even part-time actress are just a few of the roles Hylenski filled during the nearly 16 years she worked at the school.

Stationed at the first desk behind the front counter of the main office, Hylenski was usually the first person that visitors, students and staff members saw when they walked in.

And she greeted all of them the same way, according to co-worker and friend
Pat Schulze
.

"Angela makes them all feel welcome, and she does it with a smile," Schulze said.

Hylenski, a Danbury resident for the past 34 years, retired on Friday.

"I really love my job, but it's time," she said during a farewell interview last week. "Danbury High School has been my life for the past 16 years."

Hylenski, who turned 62 last month, is looking forward to spending more time on her other passions -- traveling, going to Broadway shows, volunteer work, her church and her family.

Hylenski always looked forward to going to work each morning and was usually the first person in the office.

"Unlocking the door, turning on the lights, it was almost like opening a little village," she said.

But once the nearly 3,000 students and staff members arrived, the job was nearly non-stop action.

Whether it was answering phones, serving as assistant principal
Michael Clark
's secretary, filling out working papers for students who were getting jobs, typing transcripts, training student aides who worked in the office during free periods, or talking to parents new to Danbury who wanted to check out the school before enrolling their children, Hylenski "had her hands on the pulse of the school. She just makes everyone feel special, and she has a way of de-escalating any parents' worries," Rezendes said.

"Anytime I had to write anything to her, I addressed it to 'ANGELa' because that's what she is," the principal said.

Over the years, Hylenski, whose three children are all DHS graduates, also served as chaperone on band trips and was recruited to play roles in a number of school plays.

"They even had me on roller skates in 'Footloose,' and I was a pirate in 'Peter Pan,'" she said. Several years ago the graduating seniors dedicated their yearbook to her, something Hylenski called "a great honor and the highlight of my career."

Her son, Peter, is a sound designer on Broadway, eldest daughter Kristen is a professor at the
University of Minnesota
and youngest daughter Alison, who lives in Georgia, "has the most important job of all," raising her only grandchild, 20-month old Wren, Hylenski said.

Hylenski was also known among her coworkers for her amusing stories and "great impressions of staff members," said social studies teacher Doug Goodrich.